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STEP ONE in any CRM Evaluation is to gather a checklist of CRM Requirements If you aren’t careful, the process of gathering requirements becomes tactical and not strategic. Obviously every feature costs money. So it pays off to initially determine what you are trying to accomplish as a business. CRM is not just Sales and [...]

STEP TWO of every CRM Evaluation is to select the right CRM implementation partner. We won’t bore you with the obvious details of due diligence. Instead, we offer a few “tricks of the trade” that will hopefully divide the sheep from the goats. CRM Due Diligence within your CRM Implementation First, check out the [...]

STEP THREE of a successful CRM implementation is to select the appropriate deployment model. The Trend is toward CRM in the Cloud It is clear that the global CRM market is becoming more and more focused on Cloud CRM, aka On-line CRM. In 2010 Cloud Computing became the number one CRM trend. Salesforce.com has been [...]

STEP FOUR in a successful CRM project is to select the proper CRM software system. CRM Pricing and costs At the end of the day, it usually comes down to price. So why not start with this obvious point. Be careful though with the free versions, because over time you will surely want to [...]

STEP FIVE in a successful CRM project strategy is having an adoption-oriented CRM Implementation. User Adoption: The Key Ingredient in CRM Project Implementations Keystone Strategy penned an excellent paper on the value of end-user productivity and usability in ERP software implementations. They note that an AMR Research study has shown that merely 15% of employees are [...]

9 CRM Best Practices
To make the CRM implementation easier for you and your company, here are a few things to keep in mind.

#1 Value – the value of the process of adding a CRM system will make it much easier on everyone.

#2 Budget – nothing of value comes cheap. This is the same with a CRM system. It costs money, human power and time. It will also reap rewards down the road.

#3 Back Up Everything – You will need all of your files. Get them in order. Tell every person to make a copy of the files they need to work with. Centralize all of the data and make it easier on everyone.

#4Tell every department what is going on. Let them know who this will help the sale department and how it will help make the marketing department’s job easier. Make them part of the team by telling them you need their help and asking them to get this data ready for you and the CRM system.

#5 Be the leader you are. When you show your staff and the departments you want to make work easier for them, it shows you care. Tell them and show them how the system will make their job much easier.

#6. Build Trust with your software dealer. Do business with someone who earns your trust. See a demo of their software and see if you like it.

#7 It is okay to go slow. Do not try and upgrade every department at the same time. Change is not something that can be dished out like fast food. CRM implementation will work better in small doses.

#8 Show your team the benefits of CRM and how it will be better for them and lighten their workload.

#9 Always be willing to make your company better even if this means getting use to the process of CRM systems.

Best Practices - CRM Implementation Having an effective customer relationship management (CRM) system means that the customer is at the heart of your business. It is crucial to get acquainted with CRM best practices before implementing your system. Get Everyone Involved. Having a successful CRM implementation means effective involvement of all your employees – from upper [...]

The Way Ahead for Business with two new iPad CRM applications Marketing on the move is becoming a recognized way to perform business activities and the iPad is rapidly becoming a leading player in this new CRM revolution. Mobile computers are now an essential part of any business man’s armory, and with the ever increasing [...]

Both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Sage ACT! Premium are excellent products and are leaders within their niches. ACT! has moved in recent years from simply being a Contact Management software towards becoming a CRM. Although ACT is much more customizable than in the past, it is not built for workflow and additional main entities. What it does, it does very well. And that is a focus on quick and easy management of Contacts. Sales reps who are on the phone all day long are often very pleased with ACT. Yet sales reps who are looking for more flexible customization, mobile integration or cloud access will be more pleased with CRM platforms such as Microsoft CRM, Sugar CRM or Salesforce.